Celestial Dragon
by Vaandite
Summary: When Lung fought against Leviathan, he established his physical dominance in the world of capes. But what the PRT didn't know is that he didn't stop growing because he hit a limit, but rather because his shard decided there was a better way of strengthening him.
1. 1 Enter the Dragon

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and/or the story of Worm. But does anyone else there was a Worm graphic novel? Because I keep thinking of DC characters when I play out the story in my head, and they don't really fit that well into the plot.

 **1\. Enter the Dragon**

 _The rain poured down into the torrent sweeping across the harbour. The lightning raged across the sky, illuminating the fight below. Although whether the term fight could be applied to the event was debatable. What had started as an attempt to protect Kyushu from this Kaiju, a sea beast that had been given the name Leviathan, had degraded into something where the capes involved were hanging on for their bare lives as they prayed they would survive. In the midst, there was a huge blue monster controlling the waves of the ocean as if it was inside of a bathtub playing with a toy. Then it was slammed away, flames flickering across its cheek as a being seemingly more massive than it entered the fight. The new entry resembled a metal dragon, as if someone had built a metal Godzilla to protect the bays of Japan. The two colossal beasts stared each other down, their respective elements crawling across their bodies, one caressed by the very waves that had taken so many lives before, the other possessing the fire and savagery that had allowed humans to evolve beyond their peers in the plains of Africa. The crash of the thunder started their rush towards each other, red and blue swirling, meeting each other in a fooosh of steam as they traded fist for claw, tail for tail. All while the dragon continued to grow past its original height. The surrounding buildings were treated as if they were toothpicks, only there to break their flying back every time one landed a particularly hard hit. As the city was decimated, the dragon seemed to stop growing and the two titans drew even. Eventually the titan of blue retreated, but not without leaving a parting gift to the dragon. As the land the dragon had risen to protect was sunken, th_ _e only sound anyone for miles around could hear was the roar of anger and grief of a rapidly shrinking dragon._

* * *

The eyes of a man reclining in a worn but clean La-z-boy snapped open as he heard the door to his personal office open. He straightened the chair and turned towards the intruder. He was greeted with a mask grinning from ear to ear, soon replaced by a stern Asian face that stared dead into his eyes without any emotion whatsoever.

"Lee." The voice was deep, as if it echoed through his chest before exiting his mouth. "What is it?"

"The casino was robbed." The answer was short, emotionless as before. "They say it was a group called the Undersiders."

The man straightened his back and sighed, racking his brain for any information that he could remember about the Undersiders. Then he remembered and sighed again. "Those children? Why would they steal from my territory, they're small fries." It was rhetorical.

"No-one knows why." Lee hadn't got it. "The men are waiting for you"

The man rose from the chair, showing the tattoos depicting his powers carved into his back and arms. "Very well. Let me get ready."

Oni Lee bowed and walked out, his mask firmly secured onto his face once more. Lung, turned to a wall and wrenched open a loose panel. The whole wall folded away showing a row of shelves containing gear and ornate hand-crafted masks. He picked up a blank cracked mask, the paint having washed off, leaving the crack Leviathan had left behind and put on.

* * *

In an alleyway

There was a gathering of Asian gang members all wearing different outfits, but wearing the same colours of red and green. They were hanging around, waiting for the one who had ordered their attendance. Some were smoking, while others gathered around exchanging news about the happenings around Brockton Bay. There was stillness in the air as two men wearing masks entered the alley. As they passed their subordinates, every one of them snapped to attention and waited. Lung stood in the exact middle of the street and turned and started to speak.

"You all know why I called you here. These Undersiders, these capes, these children have stolen my casino. My territory has been breached. This cannot stand. Find them, capture them, but don't kill them. They would not have stolen from me without reason. I will rip their reasons from their mouths myself. Make sure they can talk." The gang members started spreading out in numbers of twos and threes. When only Lung and only Oni Lee remained, he spoke it. "Make sure that Black Kaze doesn't find out about this. There's no need to kill children."

Lee bowed and collapsed into ash.

"You can come out now little girl," he turned his head up to the top of the lowest building, "I swear I won't kill you."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This was a brain child of mine while reading Firefly by Shujin1 and The Art of War by SixPerfections. Most fics show Lung to be just a brute and typical gang leader, but I thought that since he's Asian, shouldn't his shard represent the Celestial/Chinese dragons rather than the western dragons? So this is what I ended up with. Please Review!


	2. 2 Meeting the Dragon

_Disclaimers: I don't own Worm._

 **Chapter 2. Meeting the Dragon**

 **Taylor**

There are three rules major rules in Brockton Bay. One, don't fight on public transportation or in hospitals. Two, don't fight in the docks. And third but most important, don't piss off Lung, especially if he's wearing the white mask. This was bad. In fact, I was pretty much screwed. My first night out as a cape and I run into of all people I could meet in Brockton Bay, Lung. And he was wearing the fucking white mask. Everyone had heard the stories, ever since he and his lieutenants had come over from Japan, about the white mask that had been worn during the battle with Leviathan. He only wore that mask when he meant business and even the Triumvirate were weary of him when he wore it. And he was staring right at me right after he had issued a hunt for a group of children. There was nothing else for it. I dropped down in front of him and prayed that he wouldn't kill me.

* * *

 **Lung**

The girl dropped down with grace, as the buzzing of insect wings grew louder with her approach. Her costume was very well made, dark grey armour that appeared to be of chitin, with a fine fibre woven from what seemed to be silk connecting the pieces where flexibility was required.

"What's your name girl?" I stared into the yellow eyes of her mask.

"Uhh... Ah... I don't ..." She stammered her posture full of fear as her head darted from left to right. "Today's my first night out."

"And you just happened to go out into the docks looking for trouble?" Her courage was commendable, even if her stupidity was something I recognized as one belonging to someone who had no interest in capes before her trigger. Her power was something I had never seen before either. Judging by the number of skittering bugs I could hear with my enhanced hearing, she was a master with some serious potential, sided with nobody. Yet. "So no name yet." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah. That's pretty much it." Her body language showed that she was shocked. I realized I had chosen my blank mask and that she had ample reason to be afraid.

"I do not kill those who have not done anything. Go before you get hurt." And with that I headed out into the night.

* * *

 **Armsmaster**

I was busy. I always was. It had to do with how my power worked. Every day I saw how something could be improved and I just had to fix it. I was working on at least 3 big projects with almost an uncountable amount of smaller ones. I was working on a sedative that could theoretically suppress Lung if he ever got out of control, although it was unlikely that the board would ever approve of bringing in Lung. The Asian gang leader had dutifully shown up at every Endbringer attack with a vengeance, attacking them as if they had dealt him a personal grievance. He was especially vicious with Leviathan, the battles between them bordering on legend between those who had witnessed them. He was responsible for protecting over two thirds of the lives saved as his growth had almost synchronized with the time the monsters ramped their attempts at wiping out the human population.

"Armsmaster, come in." I put on my helmet as the inbuilt radio went off.

"Miss Militia what is it?" I began to gather my gear as I prepared for the worst.

"The Wards are reporting increased activity at the docks. ABB colours are spreading out towards the downtown areas. At this rate we'll have a gang war on our hands." This wasn't like Lung at all. Even when the Butcher and the Teeth had attacked him in their glory days he had fought back from the shadows in a way that nothing could be traced back to the ABB.

"I'm on my way. I'll be taking the experimental sedative as well. Armsmaster out." Whatever the reason, I refused to let a gang war start while I was in charge of this city.

* * *

 **Lung**

I was walking towards my casino when I noticed that I had been walking far longer than it should have taken me from that alleyway. I snarled and sniffed, looking for the scent that would betray the location of the Ward getting in my way. "So they send the children in the hopes that I will be swayed." I grabbed the crossbow bolt headed towards my eye. "They give you armour, they train you, they give you weapons and teach you how to hit where it hurts. And they say I'm the savage." I snorted, flames melting the bolt before letting it drip to the floor. "Do they think four of you would even slow me down. I am Lung!"

* * *

 **Vista**

The first thing I noticed about Lung was the mask. The second was the fact that his skin was growing orange and reflective. The third was the fact that the bolt that Shadow Stalker had shot was in fact not the tranqs that she had been issued. Funnily enough, that was the thing that stayed in my mind the longest. Of course my mind snapped back to the mask and I gulped. The mask. The mask. The mask. The mask. The mask. Oh shit. We're all gonna die, aren't we? My mood must have shocked Gallant because he jerked backwards. Aegis looked at me with a puzzled look before he started issuing orders. Shadow Stalker just seemed pissed, which was more or less her normal state. Then Aegis told me to drop my space and I looked at him as if he were mad. Although I was the youngest of the Wards, I had been one for the longest and I had seen that mask once before. On a dragon taking on the whole of the Protectorate of Brockton Bay. I could still remember the light of the fireball extinguishing with smoking bodies falling to the ground wherever they headed. The day the third rule of Brockton Bay was established. I shook in fear as I did what Carlos had asked and got into the position he assigned me when I felt a knife at my throat. A quick glance at the others showed that they were in the same situation. Then I heard a childish giggle and I shivered. There was only one cape in the Bay with that kind of laugh. "Shikigami." Dean spoke with a wince.

"Yup! Can't have you getting Uncle mad now can I?" There was another giggle and I felt something hit my head and I blacked out.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well that was fun. A new cape for a new ABB lead by a new Lung. Shikigami, a cape that splits her body into a number of children whose age depends on the number of bodies she splits into. She was picked up by Lung when he left the ruins of Japan with the new and old capes that followed him out.


	3. 3 Fighting the Dragon

_Disclaimers: I don't own Worm. Just the few OC characters that might appear in my pathetic attempt of a fic_

 **Chapter 3. Fighting the Dragon**

 _People underestimated children. It was a given fact, proven each time with each use of her power to avoid or kill her pursuers. Ever since she had escaped the training facility her life had been full of chases and relocations. The only saving grace was that the men after her were not familiar with her powers, no doubt the Yangban had kept quiet about the full range of her powers. They were looking for a woman, not a group of orphans living on the streets. But she had grown tired of running, perhaps it was time to try slip across the border? Somewhere the Yangban had no reach, where the isolation policy of China would work against them? There had been rumors of a group of capes going through the half-sunken ruins of Japan, picking up any survivors and sending them elsewhere. Could she fit in with them? She hoped so, maybe their leader would see her potential and take her in?_

 _It was with that hope a boat filled with supplies headed to Japan earned another stowaway of a young female of 23, looking for a dragon in the sunken land of the rising sun._

 **Lung**

The giggles were something I wasn't expecting but they did calm me down a bit. Four teenagers walked into my line of sight and merged into one woman wearing a kimono. She bowed and giggled, her mouth covered by that annoying fan that always seemed to have different words printed on it each time she spread it out. "I thought you were in New York."

"I was, but how could I refuse such a glorious manhunt on those who have sinned against us? And playing with the children is always enjoyable." She spread the fan again, this time the words spelling 樂, the Chinese letter for fun.

"Who else is here?" I mentally readied myself for the blow.

"Why, I brought along our little rogue dog just for the occasion!" I fought the temptation to just give up and turn in for the night.

"You brought Inugami to Brockton Bay without telling me?" I could feel the familiar feel of fire coursing through my veins as I struggled to compose myself.

"Oh don't worry, he's waiting for you at the casino, not tearing up the town looking for whoever stole from us. He's no longer the impulsive child anymore."

"No, I suppose you've taken that title back from him." I continued my walk towards the casino. "Make sure the children don't get attacked until they wake up or get picked up."

"Of course my benevolent leader." That annoying fan was up and running again.

* * *

 **Miss Militia**

I loved the air. The Birdseye view being in a chopper gave me never failed to relieve the stress that accumulated from being a hero in a city outnumbered 3 to 1. I focused and the knife in my hands shifted into a heavily customized M90 Barrett sniper rifle. The rifle was in theory, capable of stopping Lung in his tracks. I hated it and loved at the same time. If Lung ever grew out of control, it was capable of putting him down, but at the same time it was the weapon that could start a gang war over the power vacuum that he would leave. It was well established that Lung's existence held the Bay from tearing itself apart, but it wasn't just his strength that did it. How often do you meet someone in charge of some of the most vicious parahumans volunteering at a soup kitchen, or helping construction workers when he felt like? Lung had entrenched himself in the city too deep to be removed without the PRT being attacked by the public. In the docks, the centre of the ABB's territory, he was supreme emperor.

"Miss Militia, the patrol squad's locators have been still for quite some time." My radio took me out my thoughts and I answered.

"Send me their location, I'll look into it." The chopper swerved to face the direction that the panel officer had given.

* * *

 **Panacea**

I knew there was something wrong when four armed people wearing blatant ABB colours stood guard at the entrance to the hospital. Brockton Bay had a lot of villains, but they had always kept strictly to the rules. The waiting room was full of whispers and not-so-hidden glances at the men standing in front of the main entrance. When they didn't come in and stood with their backs to the doors I realized what they were doing. They weren't attacking, they were preventing people using the hospital as a refuge. That meant someone had pissed off Lung. As if I didn't have enough to work without having to heal the capes that would undoubtedly get injured trying to curb Lung. I prayed that they wouldn't charge into the docks, especially Vicky.

"Panacea, do you know what they're doing out there?" A kid, no doubt having never witnessed Lung's methods, asked.

"They're not going to attack the hospital." I assured him. "they're there to stop whoever they're looking for from coming in." The boy confused and ran over to where his parents were waiting. Meanwhile, I headed out in order to talk to the man I had recognized.

"Taichi, who are you looking for?" Taichi was the older brother to one of the few classmates I was still on good terms with.

"Some punks decided to steal from the casino." He answered without giving any indication that he had noticed me coming close.

"Oh god. Does she know?"

"No. Luckily she's in Boston." The fear in both our voices was explainable. Black Kaze, a Japanese cape who had killed anyone to survive the aftermath of Kyushu until Lung had earned her devotion had a habit of trying to assassinate anyone who disrespected him. "But Shikigami and Inugami arrived earlier." The relief was replaced with annoyance.

"Those two? Didn't Lung send those two to New York?"

"They came back"

"So what happens now?" I was prepared myself for a few overnighters.

"If we find them tonight, nothing. But if we can't, we'll have to spread to downtown."

"That will start a gang war."

"They hurt some of the people there. Lung won't stop until he finds them."

Taichi stopped the conversation with a finality in his voice. I took the hint and headed back into the hospital.

* * *

 **Lung**

I had relayed my previous order to Inugami with a firm grip on his chin and sent him on a patrol through the docks. I now stood in an empty part of the boat graveyard that I had designated for parahumans to use waiting for the inevitable confrontation with the PRT. I was ramping up and I could feel my senses and my mind change. The hum of a motorbike let me know who had arrived first.

"So they sent the tinker." My voice echoed off the metal walls of the arena.

"Lung. Your actions could spark a gang war. Stand down or we will be forced to bring you in."

So the tinker thought that he could bring me down? After Kyushu I had never lost. The thought that a tinker specializing in efficiency could defeat me was laughable. Even his new sedative would only work if he was able to do enough damage to hinder my regeneration.

"Stand down. You presume to barge into my territory and order me about as if I was a beast? When I have yet to punish those who would attack me? I am not that lenient! I will find them and I will crush the fight out of them! You can either bow down or be thrown out of my way!"

Flames exploded from the seams of the scales that had grown underneath my skin as I rushed the blue knight.

* * *

 **Armsmaster**

Clearly this wasn't one of my brightest ideas as I saw Lung's scales appear almost instantly on his skin. So he was capable of withholding the transformation until he needed it? No wonder he kept this ability hidden. Every single contingency plan for the dragon would need to be revised. That is, if I survived this bout with one of the most dangerous capes in the world.

* * *

 **Miss Militia**

The Wards were luckily unconscious, not dead as I had feared. Gallant had reported seeing Shikigami, who had been the one to knock them out. I had sent them back with orders to quell any fights that might have started and boarded the chopper when I felt the heat. It was accompanied by a blazing pillar of fire that appeared at the dock's arena. Someone had obviously engaged Lung, who had responded in kind. A quick call to the panel indicated that it was Armsmaster, with Dauntless and Velocity closing in. Steeling myself, I gave a nod to my pilot who headed towards where the pillar had been seen.

* * *

Author's note: So I added a little bit of Shikigami's past to the start of the chapter. I'm trying to use these little shorts as stories of the characters' experiences with the new and improved Lung


	4. 4 The Searching Dragon Fights

_Disclaimers: I do not own Worm_

 **Chapter 4. Searching Dragon Fights**

 _She couldn't feel much anymore. She only felt the cold and the hunger. The satisfaction that she felt whenever she managed to survive another day had slowly faded into oblivion, leaving her mind a husk only capable of simple actions. Kill, steal, eat. She had wondered once, whether the continued use of her newfound power was stripping her of rational thought. Now she barely remembered her own name, flashing within the breezes of swinging weapons. She heard footsteps and her eyes narrowed upon the sight of a man entering her hunting grounds. The man was bare-chested, yet his skin was covered in tattoos depicting dragons and clouds in a typical yakuza fashion. His arms and shoulders were covered with a coat lined with white fur. The fur looked rich, and clean, something hard to come by in this sunken necropolis. It was a sign of wealth, and wealth made stocking supplies possible. He was large, but she had taken down yakuza before, their wild slashes only helping to dig their graves. She snuck into a position that would allow her to slash his neck open, when she froze. Fear, the first real emotion she had felt in a while struck her, all coming from the masked man. "So you're the one they call the black wind. You're smaller than your reputation portrays you as." The man sniffed the air, flames flickering between his fingers. "You have two choices. Follow me, or perish here. I don't want to kill one with such potential, but your deeds are starting to attract the attention of the American dogs." The air started to shimmer, shadows twisting around a single figure as he centred himself. At that moment she knew, that the man, no god, was her only chance of surviving this hell._

 **Lung**

Honestly, for a man who proclaimed himself the master of arms, the cape was unremarkably predictable. His swipes and slashes were nothing I hadn't seen in my time in Tibet. But I suppose the man was fighting well, for a tinker he was more skilled in close combat than any tinker I had ever seen before. He was also getting annoying. His halberd, unable to pierce my scales felt like dull sticks poking at me.

"Enough of this farce. Take a nap tinker." With a deep breath, I sent a massive stream of flames at the man, which he dodged. Into the tail I had sent swinging, sending him spinning into a scrapped car. His body slid down to the floor, the body inside seemingly knocked out from a blow that would have killed a lesser man. The arena was silent for a few seconds before the zoom of a speedster sounded. The red speedster glared and vanished, taking Armsmaster along with him. I waited and was not disappointed when his reappearance was accompanied with the zapping sound of a man carrying a lance and shield.

"The bug zapper and the soldier. What could you do that your so called leader could not?" The taunt would have worked, but Dauntless was calmed with Velocity's raised hand. They appeared to have reached a plan of attack, for they each took position where it would be difficult to keep track of both of them, without taking a hit. The three of us stood when an exploding car signalled the start of another fight.

* * *

 **Miss Militia**

I had linked my radio frequency to the three who had engaged Lung, and it didn't seem to be good. Armsmaster had been knocked out with a hit that had completely destroyed his power armour, barely leaving him able to move. Dauntless and Velocity had practiced contingency tactics for Lung, but without both me and Colin, it would be difficult to pull off. If only Armsmaster hadn't installed the biometric scanner into his weapons. Then Velocity would have an actual chance at hurting Lung instead of just annoying him. This was turning out to be a really bad day.

"MM, respond." My ears picked up the voice of the of Director Piggot. "Director Costa-Brown has approved use of the Ragnarok. Take Lung down, alive or dead."

I sighed as I murmured my affirmative. So this was what the bureaucrats had decided then, to put down the cape who had saved almost as many lives through an hour of carnage as the PRT did in a whole year. I didn't like it, but I would follow orders through. It wasn't like I believed it would actually work. By what Velocity had reported, Lung had passed the Ragnarok's piercing capability. Unless someone cut off his arm whole, it wouldn't do any permanent damage. Nevertheless, the knife in my hands shone and changed form, into the sniper rifle that I knew so well.

* * *

 **Shikigami**

The search was uneventful, even with Inugami and my bodies searching through every hiding place within the docks. The child, no man, was searching carefully through each nook and cranny with a professionalism that was a stark contrast to his younger days.

"Hey grandma, your hands stopped moving. Getting tired in your old days?" Nope. It was back. "Ow!" And gone with a good hit to the back of the head. "What was that for?"

I covered my mouth with my open fan as I giggled at him. "Aw, is the puppy hurt? Does it want to petted?" My second body waggled a rolled up newspaper at him and tutted.

"Crazy bitch." He huffed and walked out of the room. "Why can't we just hold someone hostage and tell them to come out? It would be a better use of our time?"

"This isn't Detroit, baka inu. The PRT actually does try to stop us here." I was tempted to hit him again.

"These Undersiders, I hear they use monster dogs as getaway vehicles." Inugami was in thought as we exited towards the street.

"Why Inu, I never thought you were looking for a part-time job! Or do you just one of them to ride you?" He snarled and I giggled once more, growing to the same height as I absorbed my children.

"Say that again and powers be damned I'll rip your fan and shove it down your throat."

"Hohoho! You're welcome to try, mutt." I shut my fan with a flick and stared him down. He glanced away and I opened my fan once more. "I thought not. Now mush! We don't have much time until Black Kaze finds out."

"Find out what exactly?" The voice behind us was quiet but still was enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck. Shit. We were screwed, weren't we?

* * *

Author's Note: Yes Shikigami, you are.

Hey guys, sorry about the slow update. Turns out getting used to Uni in a different country is harder than I thought. That and I have no idea what to do with Lung and his fight with the Protectorate. It kind of snowballed out of control so I'm just hanging on in the hope that something will come up that won't look too forced or Deus Ex Machina-like. Oh by the way I've also changed Chapter 3 a bit, so if you haven't read that go do that and please review! Seriously please. I have no idea where this is headed any ideas would be nice.


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